That venerable people--who were the ancients to those whom we call the
ancients--the wise Egyptians, in the disposition which they allotted to
the genders of their nouns, paid a singular and delicate compliment to
the fair sex. In the four elements, beginning with water, they appointed
the ocean, as a rough boisterous existence, to the male sex; but streams
and fountains they left to the more gentle females. As to earth, they
made rocks and stones male; but arable and meadow lands female. Air they
divided thus: to the masculine gender, rough winds and hurricanes of
every kind; to the female, the sky and the zephyrs. Fire, when of a
consuming nature, they made male, but artificial and harmless flames
they rendered feminine.
* * * * *
~Discoveries~